Device and method for controlling an engine clutch in an environmentally-friendly vehicle

ABSTRACT

A device for controlling an engine clutch in an environmentally-friendly vehicle, wherein the engine clutch is disposed between an engine and a driving motor and is configured to selectively connect the engine to the driving motor, includes: a transmission configured to receive a driving force that is transmitted from at least one of the engine and the driving motor by release or engagement of the engine clutch; and a controller configured to control the engine clutch based on a gear of the transmission when the failure of the engine clutch is detected and configured to charge a battery using the engine.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2016-0137782 filed in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office on Oct. 21, 2016, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND (a) Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an engine clutch controlling apparatusfor an environmentally-friendly vehicle, and more particularly, to adevice and a method for controlling an engine clutch in anenvironmentally-friendly vehicle that is capable of controlling drivingor charging of the vehicle when a failure of the engine clutch isdetected.

(b) Description of the Related Art

At present, the problem of environmental pollution is becoming moreserious, and use of pollution-free energy is becoming increasinglyimportant. In particular, air pollution in large cities, which is causedin part by exhaust gas from fossil-fuel burning vehicles, has becomeincreasingly serious.

To solve the problem caused by exhaust gas emissions and to improve fuelefficiency, environmentally-friendly vehicles have been developed.

The environmentally-friendly vehicle is one that reduces or eliminatesexhaust gas emissions. Environmentally-friendly vehicles includes hybridelectric vehicles (“HEV”) that drive using a combination of motor powerand engine power, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (“PHEV”) that canbe equipped with a high capacity and high voltage battery that ischarged using external electricity sources.

The environmentally-friendly vehicle is equipped with an engine clutchbetween an engine and a drive motor in order to transmit the power ofthe engine to a drive shaft.

The environmentally-friendly vehicle has an electric vehicle (“EV”) modein which the vehicle is driven only using the torque of the drive motordepending on whether the engine clutch is engaged, and an HEV (HEV) modein which the vehicle is driven by both the engine torque and the drivemotor torque.

It is possible to drive the environmentally-friendly vehicle byaccurately determining whether the clutch is engaged. However, when theengine clutch fails, the operating state cannot be accuratelydetermined, and thus there is an increased possibility of a problemarising during driving of the vehicle.

In addition, when the engine clutch fails resulting in the vehicle beingcontrolled by a speed difference between the engine and the drive motor,a control time delay occurs and a the vehicle may experience a sudden,unintended acceleration.

The information disclosed in this section is merely for enhancement ofunderstanding of the background of the invention and therefore it maycontain information that does not form the prior art that is alreadyknown in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure addresses the problems identified above byproviding a device and a method for controlling an engine clutch in anenvironmentally-friendly vehicle that are capable of driving the vehicleusing an engine and a driving motor when an engine clutch failure of theis detected.

The present disclosure further provides a device and a method forcontrolling the engine clutch in an environmentally-friendly vehiclethat are capable of charging a battery when an engine clutch failure isdetected.

An example embodiment of a device for controlling the engine clutch inthe environmentally-friendly vehicle according to the present disclosureincludes: an engine clutch disposed between an engine and a drivingmotor and configured to selectively connect the engine to the drivingmotor; a transmission configured to receive a driving force transmittedfrom at least one of the engine and the driving motor by release orengagement of the engine clutch; and a controller configured to controlthe engine clutch based on a gear of the transmission when a failure ofthe engine clutch is detected and to charge a battery using the engine.

When the controller detects an engine clutch failure, the controller may(i) change a current gear of the transmission to a neutral gear, (ii)engage the engine clutch, (iii) drive the engine, (iv) charge thebattery using the engine and the driving motor, and (v) change theneutral gear to the current gear.

The controller may control the engine and the driving motor to drive thevehicle when the current gear is a drive gear. The controller maycontrol the engine and the driving motor so that the vehicle movesbackward when the current gear is a reverse gear.

In an alternative method, when the controller detects an engine clutchfailure, the controller: (i) releases the engine clutch, (ii) maydetermine whether the gear of the transmission is changed to a stopshift, (iii) may engage the engine clutch when the gear of thetransmission is changed to the stop shift, and (iv) may charge thebattery using the engine and the driving motor.

This example embodiment of a device for controlling the engine clutchmay further include: an output unit configured to output notifications,which may include a request that requires a change to the stop shift.

When the gear of the transmission is not changed to the stop shift, thecontroller may check a temperature of the engine clutch with the engineclutch released and determine whether the battery is charged based onthe temperature of the engine clutch.

The controller may charge the battery using the engine when the engineclutch temperature is equal to or less than a threshold temperature.

The controller may determine whether a state of charge (“SOC”) of thebattery is equal to or greater than a threshold value and stop chargingof the battery when the battery SOC is equal to or greater than thethreshold value. The controller may charge the battery using astarter-generator connected to the engine and the driving motor.

An example embodiment according to the present disclosure provides amethod for controlling the engine clutch in an environmentally-friendlyvehicle, including: detecting an engine clutch failure; changing acurrent gear of a transmission to a set gear when the engine clutchfailure is detected; engaging the engine clutch to charge a batteryusing an engine and a driving motor; and changing the set gear to thecurrent gear to control the engine and the driving motor based on thecurrent gear.

Another example embodiment according to the present disclosure providesa method for controlling the engine clutch in anenvironmentally-friendly vehicle, including: detecting an engine clutchfailure; releasing the engine clutch when the engine clutch failure;determining whether a gear of a transmission is changed to a stop gear;engaging the engine clutch when the gear of the transmission is changedto the stop gear; and charging a battery using an engine and a drivingmotor.

The device and the methods for controlling the engine clutch in theenvironmentally-friendly vehicle according to the example embodimentsmay drive the vehicle using the engine and the driving motor when anengine clutch is detected by controlling the engine clutch, therebypreventing sudden unintended acceleration of the vehicle.

In addition, because the battery may be charged when an engine clutchfailure is detected, the example embodiments according to the presentdisclosure may prevent discharging of the battery.

The desired effects are not limited to the aforementioned effects. Inother words, effects not described above will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art from the disclosure of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view showing an environmentally-friendly vehicle having anexample embodiment of a device for controlling an engine clutchaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a simplified view of an example embodiment of a device forcontrolling the engine clutch in an environmentally-friendly vehicleaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method ofcontrolling the engine clutch in an environmentally-friendly vehicleaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another example embodiment of amethod of controlling the engine clutch in an environmentally-friendlyvehicle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, of a device and a method for controlling an engine clutchin an environmentally-friendly vehicle is described in detail withreference to the description and the accompanying drawings. However, thedrawings and the detailed description relate to specific exampleembodiments in order to effectively describe features of the presentinvention. The present invention, however, is not limited only to thedrawings and description.

Furthermore, in describing example embodiments according to the presentdisclosure, related well-known functions or constructions will not bedescribed in detail as they may unnecessarily obscure the understandingof the present invention. The following terminologies are defined inconsideration of the functions in the present invention and may beconstrued in different ways by the intention of users and operators,practice, or the like. Therefore, the definitions thereof should beconstrued based on the contents throughout the specification.

To effectively describe core technical features of the presentinvention, terms may be appropriately changed, integrated, or separatedfor those skilled in the art in a technical field to which the presentinvention belongs to explicitly understand the present invention, butthe present invention is not limited thereto.

FIG. 1 is a view showing an environmentally-friendly vehicle having a anexample embodiment of a device for controlling an engine clutch in theenvironmentally-friendly vehicle according to. FIG. 2 is a simplifiedview of an example embodiment of the device for controlling the engineclutch according to the present disclosure.

A hybrid vehicle (or a hybrid electric vehicle) of FIG. 1 is shown as anexample embodiment for convenience of explanation. The exampleembodiment may be applied not only to the hybrid vehicle of FIG. 1 butalso to all other environmentally-friendly vehicles.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the environmentally-friendly vehicleincludes an engine 110, a hybrid starter-generator (“HSG”) 115, anengine clutch 120, a driving motor 130, a battery 140, a transmission150, an engine controller (or an engine control unit (“ECU”)) 160, ahydraulic clutch actuator (“HCA”) 165, a motor controller (or a motorcontrol unit (“MCU”)) 170, a transmission controller (or a transmissioncontrol unit (“TCU”)) 180, and a hybrid controller (or a hybrid controlunit (“HCU”)) 190.

A data detector 210 may detect a state of the vehicle for controllingthe motor 130, which may include vehicle speed, gear stage, displacementof an accelerator pedal, displacement of a brake pedal, rotation speedof the driving motor 130, oil temperature of the transmission 150, ortorque of the driving motor in driving of the vehicle, among others.Data detector 210 may provide the detected state data to HCU 190.

Engine 160 may control engine power based on a signal received from ECU160, and driving of engine 110 may be controlled to an optimum operatingpoint based on a signal received from ECU 160.

HSG 115 may start engine 110 or may be operated as a generator whenengine 110 is started to charge the battery 140.

Engine clutch 120 may be disposed between engine 110 and driving motor130 and may be operated based on a signal received from HCU 190 toconnect or intercept power between engine 110 and driving motor 130. Inother words, engine clutch 120 may connect or disconnect the powerbetween engine 110 and driving motor 130 based on switching between EVmode and HEV mode.

When engine clutch 120 is opened, the hybrid vehicle may be driven onlyby driving motor 130. When the engine clutch 120 is engaged, the hybridvehicle may be driven only by engine 110 or by the engine and drivingmotor 130.

Driving motor 130 may be operated by a three-phase AC voltage appliedfrom MCU 170 to generate torque. Driving motor 130 may act as agenerator when the vehicle is coasting or during regenerative braking tosupply a voltage to battery 140.

Battery 140 may include a plurality of unit cells, and may store a highvoltage for providing a driving voltage to driving motor 130. Battery140 may supply the driving voltage to driving motor 130 in either the EVmode or the HEV mode and may be charged by a voltage generated bydriving motor 130 and engine 110 during the regenerative braking.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, battery 140may be charged by a voltage and a current supplied via a charging devicewhen the vehicle is connected to a commercial power source.

Transmission 150 may adjust a shift ratio based on a control signal fromTCU 180. Transmission 150 also may adjust an output torque appliedthrough engine clutch 120 based on a vehicle operation mode using theshift ratio to deliver the adjusted output torque to a drive wheel sothat the hybrid vehicle is driven.

ECU 160 may be connected to HCU 190 via a network, and may operate inconjunction with HCU 190 to control operation of engine 110 based on oneor more of a variety of signals relating to the engine operation state.For example, the engine operation state signal may indicate torquerequested by a driver, a coolant temperature, a number of rotations ofthe engine, an amount of that a throttle valve is opened, an amount ofintake air, an amount of oxygen entering the engine, or the enginetorque. ECU 160 may provide an operating state of engine 110 to HCU 190.

HCA 165 may control engagement and disengagement (or release) of theengine clutch 120 based on a signal received from HCU 190.

MCU 170 may control driving and torque of driving motor 130 based on asignal received from HCU 190 and may store a voltage generated bydriving motor 130 during regenerative braking in battery 140.

TCU 180 may control overall operation of transmission 150 by controllingthe shift ratio based on output torques received from ECU 160 and MCU170 and by determining the regenerative braking amount. TCU 180 mayprovide an operating state of transmission 150 to HCU 190.

HCU 190 may be the highest-level controller that sets the operation modeand controls overall operation of the environmentally-friendly vehicle.HCU 190 may integrally control the other lower-level controllersconnected to HCU 190 via the network, may collect and analyzeinformation received from each lower-level controller, and may cooperatewith the other lower-level controllers to control output torques ofengine 110 and driving motor 130.

Conventional operation of an environmentally-friendly vehicle having theabove described functions is well-known, and thus a detailed descriptionthereof will be omitted.

FIG. 2 is a simplified view of an example embodiment of a device forcontrolling the engine clutch according to the present disclosure.

In some methods of operation, which will be described below, certaincontrols may be performed by HCA 165 and TCU 180, and other controls maybe executed by HCU 190. Therefore, it is possible to describe ECU 160,HCA 165, MCU 170, TCU 180, and HCU 190 collectively as a singlecontroller 230. For convenience of description, ECU 160, HCA 165, MCU170, TCU 180, and HCU 190 will be collectively referred to as controller230 unless otherwise specified.

Referring to FIG. 2, device 200 for controlling the engine clutchincludes a data detector 210, controller 230, an output unit (or anoutput device) 240, and a storage unit (or a storage device) 250.

Data detector 210 may detect state data of the vehicle for controllingengine clutch 120, which may include the vehicle speed, a gear gear, thedisplacement of the accelerator pedal, the displacement of the brakepedal, the rotation speed of driving motor 130, the oil temperature oftransmission 150, and/or torque of the driving motor while driving thevehicle. Data detector 210 may provide the detected state data tocontroller 230.

Controller 230 may control the vehicle when engine clutch 120 fails. Inmore detail, when controller 230 detects a failure of engine clutch 120,controller 230 may change a current gear engaged in transmission 150 toa neutral gear, engage engine clutch 120, charge battery 140 usingengine 110 and driving motor 130, and change the neutral gear back tothe current gear to drive the vehicle.

Alternatively, when controller 230 detects an engine clutch failure,controller 230 may release engine clutch 120, engage engine clutch 120when a current gear engaged in the transmission 150 is changed to a stopgear, and charge battery 140 using engine 110 and driving motor 130.

Controller 230 may determine whether battery 140 is charged based on atemperature of engine clutch 120 when the gear engaged in transmission150 is not changed to the stop gear (i.e. the gear that is engaged whenthe vehicle stops; for example a parking gear).

In an example embodiment, controller 230 may comprise one or moreprocessors operating according to a program designed to perform eachstep of the method for controlling the engine clutch. The method ofcontrolling the engine clutch 120 will now be described in more detailwith reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4.

Output unit 240 may provide notifications to allow the driver to changegears. The notifications may include a request that requires a change tothe stop gear. In other words, the notifications may indicate that thedriver should change the gear of the transmission to the stop gear, andmay be set in advance. The notifications may include a voice, a graphic,a light, a character, etc.

Output unit 240 may include at least one of a display 243 and a speaker245.

Display 243 may display the notifications based on a signal receivedfrom controller 230. For example, Display 243 may be a navigationdevice, an instrument cluster, an audio-video navigation system (AVN),etc. The instrument cluster may be an instrument panel, a heads updisplay or any other type of display informing the driver of informationabout the vehicle such as the vehicle speed, the engine speed, or thecoolant temperature while driving of the vehicle.

Speaker 245 may output the notifications using a voice based on a signalreceived from controller 230.

Storage unit 250 may store data generated by or necessary for use by anyelement of the device for controlling an engine clutch. For example,storage unit 250 may store the state data detected by data detector 210,and may also store the notifications. Storage unit 250 may also storevarious programs for controlling overall operation of the device forcontrolling the engine clutch.

In addition, storage unit 250 may provide necessary data to controller230 and output unit 240 in response to requests from controller 230 andoutput unit 240.

In an example embodiment, storage unit 250 may be an integrated memoryor may be subdivided into a plurality of memories. For example, storageunit 250 may include a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory(RAM), or a flash memory.

Hereinafter, the method of controlling the engine clutch in theenvironmentally-friendly vehicle is described in detail with referenceto FIG. 3 and FIG. 4.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method ofcontrolling the engine clutch.

Referring to FIG. 3, controller 230 may drive at least one of engine 110and driving motor 130 to drive the vehicle when the vehicle is turned onby the driver (step S310).

Controller 230 may determine whether a failure is detected in the engineclutch 120 (step S320). For example, when controller 230 determines thatengine clutch 120 is released in a vehicle operation state where theengine clutch should be engaged, controller 230 may determine thatengine clutch 120 has failed based on the state data. Because the methodof detecting the failure of the engine clutch 120 is a known technique,a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

If the failure of engine clutch 120 is not detected, controller 230returns to step S310 to drive the vehicle.

If controller 230 detects a failure of engine clutch 120, controller 230may change the current gear of the transmission to a set gear (stepS330). The current gear may represent the gear engaged in transmission150, and the set gear may represent the neutral gear. In more detail,when controller 230 detects the failure of engine clutch 120, controller230 may change the current gear of transmission 150 to neutral gear toforcibly block the power.

Controller 230 may then forcibly engage engine clutch 120 (step S340).

Controller 230 may then drive the engine 110 (step S350) to drive thevehicle.

Controller 230 may then charge battery 140 (step S360) using HSG 115connected to engine 110 and driving motor 130 when the engine clutch 120is engaged.

Controller 230 may determine whether a state of charge (“SOC”) ofbattery 140 is equal to or greater than a first threshold value (stepS370). Herein, the first threshold value may be a reference value fordetermining when charging of the battery 140 should end, and may be setusing a predetermined algorithm (for example, a program or a probabilitymodel).

When the battery SOC is less than the first threshold value, controller230 may return to step S360 to charge battery 140.

When the battery SOC is equal to or greater than the first thresholdvalue, controller 230 may then change the neutral gear back to thecurrent gear (step S380). For example, if the current gear is a drivinggear, controller 230 may change the neutral gear to the drive gear whenthe battery SOC is equal to or greater than the first threshold value.In contrast, If the current gear is a reverse gear, controller 230 maychange the neutral gear to the reverse gear when the battery is equal toor greater than the first threshold value.

Controller 230 may then control engine 110 and driving motor 130 (stepS390). For example, when the gear engaged in transmission 150 is a drivegear, controller 230 may control the engine and the driving motor 130 todrive the vehicle; and when the gear engaged in transmission 150 is thereverse gear, controller 230 may control the engine and the drive motor130 so that the vehicle moves backward.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another example embodiment of amethod of controlling the engine clutch.

Referring to FIG. 4, controller 230 may drive at least one of engine 110and driving motor 130 to drive the vehicle when a driver turns on thevehicle (step S410).

Controller 230 may then determine whether a failure is detected inengine clutch 120 (step S415).

Controller 230 may then release engine clutch 120 when a failure isdetected (step S420).

Controller 230 causes output unit 240 to output the notifications (stepS425). In more detail, based on a signal received from controller 230,the output unit 240 may output the notifications to indicate that thedriver should change the gear of the transmission to the stop gear.

Controller 230 may then determine whether the gear of transmission 150is changed to the stop gear (step S430).

Controller 230 may forcibly engage engine clutch 120 when the gear ischanged to the stop gear (step S435), because the engine clutch 120 isin an abnormal state.

Controller 230 may then charge battery 140 using engine 110 and drivingmotor 130 (step S440) using HSG 115 connected to engine 110 and drivemotor 130 when engine clutch 120 is engaged. In other words, HSG 115 anddriving motor 130 may act as generators supplying a voltage to battery140 to charge battery 140.

Controller 230 may then determine whether the battery SOC is equal to orgreater than a second threshold value (step S445). The second thresholdvalue may be a reference value for determining when charging of battery140 should end, and may be set using a predetermined algorithm (e.g., aprogram or a probability model). The second threshold value may bedifferent from the first threshold value described in FIG. 3.

Controller 230 may then stop charging of the battery 140 when thebattery SOC is equal to or greater than the second threshold value (stepS450).

If the gear of the transmission if not changed to a stop gear,controller 230 may determine whether a temperature of engine clutch 120is equal to or less than a threshold temperature (step S455). Thethreshold temperature may be a reference temperature for determiningwhen charging of battery 140 should occur, and may be set using apredetermined algorithm (e.g., a program or a probability model).

Controller 230 may next stop charging battery 140 when the temperatureof engine clutch 120 exceeds the threshold temperature.

When the temperature of the engine clutch 120 is equal to or less thanthe threshold temperature, controller 230 may charge battery 140 (stepS460) using HSG 115 connected to engine 110.

Controller 230 may then determine whether the battery SOC is equal to orgreater than the second threshold value (step S465).

When the battery SOC is less than the second threshold value, controller230 may return to step S460 to charge e battery 140 using engine 110.

Controller 230 may stop charging battery 140 when the battery SOC isequal to or greater than the second threshold value.

While this invention has been described in connection with practicalexample embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intendedto cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements includedwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS

-   -   110: engine    -   115: HSG    -   130: motor    -   140: battery    -   150: transmission    -   160: ECU    -   165: HCA    -   170: MCU    -   180: TCU    -   190: HCU    -   210: data detector    -   230: controller    -   240: output unit

What is claimed is:
 1. A device for controlling an engine clutch,comprising: a transmission configured to receive a driving force that istransmitted from at least one of an engine and a driving motor byrelease or engagement of the engine clutch; and a controller configuredto control the engine clutch based on a current gear of the transmissionwhen an engine clutch failure is detected, wherein the engine clutchfailure comprises the engine clutch being released in a vehicleoperation state where the engine clutch should be engaged or the engineclutch being engaged in a vehicle operation state where the engineclutch should be released, based on state data of a vehicle forcontrolling the engine clutch, and to control charging of a vehiclebattery using the engine; wherein when the controller detects the engineclutch failure, the controller: changes the current gear of thetransmission to a neutral gear, engages the engine clutch, drives theengine, charges the battery using the engine and the driving motor, andchanges the neutral gear back to the current gear.
 2. The device forcontrolling the engine clutch of claim 1, wherein the controllercontrols the engine and the driving motor to drive the vehicle when thecurrent gear is a drive gear.
 3. The device for controlling the engineclutch of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the engine and thedriving motor so that the vehicle moves backward when the current gearis a reverse gear.
 4. A device for controlling an engine clutchcomprising: a transmission configured to receive a driving force that istransmitted from at least one of an engine and a driving motor byrelease or engagement of the engine clutch; and a controller configuredto control the engine clutch based on a current gear of the transmissionwhen an engine clutch failure is detected, wherein the engine clutchfailure comprises the engine clutch being released in a vehicleoperation state where the engine clutch should be engaged or the engineclutch being engaged in a vehicle operation state where the engineclutch should be released, based on state data of a vehicle forcontrolling the engine clutch, and the controller being furtherconfigured to control charging of a vehicle battery using the engine,wherein when the controller detects the engine clutch failure, thecontroller: releases the engine clutch, determines whether the currentgear of the transmission is changed to a stop gear, engages the engineclutch when the current gear of the transmission is changed to the stopgear, and charges the battery using the engine and the driving motor. 5.The device for controlling the engine clutch of claim 4, furthercomprising an output unit configured to output notifications to thevehicle driver.
 6. The device for controlling the engine clutch of claim4, wherein when the current gear of the transmission is not changed tothe stop gear, the controller checks a temperature of the engine clutchwhen the engine clutch is released and determines whether the battery ischarged based on the temperature of the engine clutch.
 7. The device forcontrolling the engine clutch of claim 6, wherein the controller chargesthe battery using the engine when the temperature of the engine clutchis equal to or less than a threshold temperature.
 8. The device forcontrolling the engine clutch of claim 1, wherein the controllerdetermines a battery state of charge and stops charging the battery ifthe battery state of charge is equal to or greater than a thresholdvalue.
 9. The device for controlling the engine clutch of claim 1,wherein the controller charges the battery using a starter-generatorconnected to the engine and the driving motor.
 10. A method forcontrolling an engine clutch, comprising: detecting a failure of theengine clutch, wherein the engine clutch failure comprises the engineclutch being released in a vehicle operation state where the engineclutch should be engaged or the engine clutch being engaged in a vehicleoperation state where the engine clutch should be released, based onstate data of a vehicle for controlling the engine clutch; changing acurrent gear of a transmission to a set gear when the failure of theengine clutch is detected; engaging the engine clutch to charge abattery using an engine and a driving motor; and changing the set gearto the current gear to control the engine and the driving motor based onthe current gear.
 11. The method for controlling the engine clutch ofclaim 10, wherein the step of changing the current gear to the set gearcomprises changing the current gear to a neutral gear.
 12. The methodfor controlling the engine clutch of claim 10, wherein the current gearcomprises a driving gear or a reverse gear.
 13. The method forcontrolling the engine clutch of claim 10, further comprising:determining a battery state of charge after the step of charging thebattery using the engine and the driving motor; and stopping batterycharging when the battery SOC is greater than or equal to a thresholdvalue.
 14. A method for controlling an engine clutch, comprising:detecting a failure of the engine clutch, wherein the engine clutchfailure comprises the engine clutch being released in a vehicleoperation state where the engine clutch should be engaged or the engineclutch being engaged in a vehicle operation state where the engineclutch should be released, based on state data of a vehicle forcontrolling the engine clutch; releasing the engine clutch when thefailure of the engine clutch is detected; determining whether a gear ofa transmission is changed to a stop gear; engaging the engine clutchwhen the gear of the transmission is changed to the stop gear; andcharging a battery using an engine and a driving motor.
 15. The methodfor controlling the engine clutch of claim 14, further comprising:determining a battery state of charge after the step of charging thebattery; and stopping battery charging y when the battery state ofcharge is greater than or equal to a threshold value.
 16. The method forcontrolling the engine clutch of claim 14, further comprising: after thestep of determining whether the gear of the transmission is changed tothe stop gear, maintaining the engine clutch in a released state whenthe gear is not changed to the stop gear; checking a temperature of theengine clutch; and controlling battery charging based on the temperatureof the engine clutch.
 17. The method for controlling the engine clutchof claim 16, wherein the step of controlling charging of the batterybased on the temperature of the engine clutch comprises: determiningwhether the temperature of the engine clutch is less than or equal to athreshold temperature; and charging the battery using the engine whenthe temperature of the engine clutch is less than or equal to thethreshold temperature.
 18. The method for controlling the engine clutchof claim 14, further comprising: outputting notifications to a driver.